Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown Data roster in 1966 (whereas the band had no “positive hit”), and, though initially thought to be a second-string act by the label, scored a number of main hit singles, together with “I Heard It By way of the Grapevine” (1967) (launched later by Marvin Gaye), “Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me” (1967), “The Nitty Gritty” (1969), “Friendship Prepare” (1969), “If I Have been Your Lady” (1970), “I Don’t Need To Do Mistaken” (1971), the Grammy Award-winning “Neither Certainly one of Us (Needs to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” (1972), and “Daddy May Swear (I Declare)” (1973).
Of their early Motown profession, Gladys Knight and the Pips toured because the opening act for Diana Ross and The Supremes. Gladys Knight acknowledged in her memoirs that Ross kicked her off the tour as a result of the viewers’s reception to Knight’s soulful efficiency overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later advised Knight that she was giving his act a tough time.
The act left Motown for a greater take care of Buddah Data in 1973, and achieved even better mainstream success that 12 months with hits such because the Grammy-winning “Midnight Prepare to Georgia” (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), “I’ve Obtained to Use My Creativeness”, “The Manner We Have been/Strive To Bear in mind” and “Finest Factor That Ever Occurred to Me”.
In the summertime of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the movie Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield, which included the songs “On and On”, “The Makings of You” and “Make Yours a Completely satisfied House”. The act was notably profitable in Europe, and particularly the UK.
